Benchmark, an early investor in Ebay and Dublinbased Setanta, was hoping to find a company that might compete with MySpace, for which Rupert Murdoch's News Corp had paid $580m in July 2005. Maloney has called that transaction "the deal of the century".

Silicon Valley sources close to Bebo executives at the time estimated that Bebo founders had secured what they at the time thought was a hefty valuation of "the mid-double digit million mark".

Last week, US media group Viacom was reported to be considering a bid for Bebo.

Viacom was one of the losers in the 2005 bidding war for MySpace.

BT and other telecoms groups had been linked in potential bids for Bebo, which until recently had a commanding lead over MySpace among Irish and British teenagers and young adults, who according to research released this week are deserting TV and teen mags in droves for Bebo and MySpace (see page 5).

Now media reports last week "bandied about" a potential Viacom bid that could be "north of $1billion".

Assuming Bebo was valued around $50m when Benchmark invested, less than three months ago, the $15m stake would be worth $300m. Or in other words a 2000% return on investment in three months.

Nice work if you can get it.